One X-Men Hero's Name Was Changed To Avoid A Lawsuit
When introducing Multiple Man, the character's creator Len Wein wanted to give him a name that surely would have ended in a lawsuit.
Among the core X-Men, there's little question that the names chosen for the heroes are pretty much perfect across the board. Wolverine, Cyclops, Rogue, Magneto are among the codenames that have become iconic over the years. However, for Jamie Madrox aka Multiple Man, his originally intended real-life identity would have caused some serious problems for Marvel - so much so, his real name was changed.
Madrox first appeared in Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 and was created by legendary comic writer Len Wein. Madrox's powers as Multiple Man are pretty self-explanatory, as the longtime X-Man can duplicate himself. Madrox originally had the capabilities of making 50 copies of himself at the same time, but over the years (and in Matthew Rosenberg and Andy McDonald's excellent miniseries) he's shown to be able to make much, much more copies. In order to emphasize his duplication powers, Wein's first name for Madrox was Zerox - yes, like the company known for photocopying, Xerox.
Brian Cronin of CBR.com's excellent Comic Book Legends Revealed series, confirmed that Wein wanted to name Multiple Man Zerox. This wasn't just an idea, In the Marvel Comics magazine FOOM, the character's upcoming introduction actually teased him as Zerox. Cronin spoke with Wein, who told him that he originally intended to include the pun, but that when the name came up to editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, it was immediately nixed. The big reason? Because it was a lawsuit waiting to happen. Here's what Wein told CBR.com:
My original name for the character was Jamie ZERROX (Zerrox, the Multiple Man. Get it? Boy, was I clever in those days. :-) ) When I passed the name by then Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas, he looked at me like I had three heads. "You're kidding, right?" he said. "Who's gonna pay off the huge lawsuit, you?" "But it's not even spelled the same," I said. "Not happening," said Roy. So I came up with a bunch of alternative until I came up with Madrox, that sounded like an action word, and thus it has been ever since.
While the name would have been a funny pun, it's easy to see why Thomas decided to go with something different. Making a character whose power allows him to copy himself Zerox, even spelled differently than Xerox, would undoubtedly cause legal issues for Marvel. While lawsuits over names have happened before in the comics, there'd be little way for the publisher to prove that they weren't directly referencing Xerox - even if it was in a tongue in cheek way.
Marvel would change Jamie Zerox to Jamie Madrox before the character first appeared and it's the name that's stuck with Multiple Man ever since. Thankfully, the name-change wouldn't sink the character, as Madrox still appears in comics regularly to this day, most famously starring in Peter David's excellent X-Factor series. Who knows how readers would have approached the character differently if he was named after a silly pun? Regardless, in the end, Thomas made the right decision as a lawsuit was avoided.
Source: CBR.com